I was in Bethesda much of the weekend for a wedding and I saw that the County has installed quite a few new wayfinding signs, most of which seem to be geared toward directing cyclists towards bikeshare stations. That's great. I also saw the new section of bike trail along Wisconsin Avenue by the NIH/Medical Center which looks like an improvement since the last time I was there.

Coincidentally, someone sent me a photo of one sign that was unfortunately installed facing the wrong direction.

This is at the corner of Fenton and Thayer facing south, but from here, the Metro is to the right. Hopefully it will get fixed soon.

The bride at the wedding was on crutches because she'd been hit by a car while riding her bike home from work a couple of months ago. Had to get something like 13 pins in her leg, but she still managed to walk down the aisle and dance on her wedding day.

As part of the Cycle Maryland Initiative, Governor Martin O’Malley on Thursday announced $3.2 million in Bikeways Program Grants to fund 23 projects in four counties and 12 municipalities. The Maryland Bikeways Program, which is administered by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), supports the design and construction of projects that create and improve bicycle connections in Maryland to key destinations, like work, school and shopping.

Prince George’s County’s WB&A Spur Trail: $175,000 to construct a 1.5-mile trail that will eventually connect the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis (WB&A) Trail with Bowie State University and the Bowie MARC station

AME Zion Church has asked DDOT and the ANC to move the 14th Street bike lane so that members can double park during funerals. There has to be an easier way to accommodate what can only be a temporary use.

WABA: "Next Monday, ANC 6A and ANC 6C will host a joint public meeting to address the issue of bicycling access in the H Street NE corridor. DDOT has proposed four alternatives to improve bicycling there, specifically by making improvements on the two adjacent streets, G and I streets NE. ANC Commission Tony Goodman has explained the alternatives in detail on Greater Greater Washington."

AAA supports an end to hands-free phone use. “This landmark study is eye-opening and sobering. It proves that hands-free is not a safety ‘silver bullet’ and that talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous, no matter whether hand-held or hands-free,” said Lon Anderson, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Managing Director of Public and Government Affairs. But I think the article is wrong. Using hands-free is legal in DC.

White Flint could get bike lanes. "Plans for the street network include bike lanes in some areas, such as along Old Georgetown Road...Some meeting attendees expressed concerns about the safety of inexperienced bike riders, especially if new bikeshare stations go up in the area, and suggested bringing down some of the proposed 40-mph speed limits"

And, from the same link, "Patricia Shepherd, the county’s new bikeways coordinator, presented plans for improvements to a 0.29 mile section of Woodglen Drive south of Nicholson Lane. The project site is on the northern end of the six-mile Bethesda Trolley Trail, which connects White Flint to Bethesda. The plan calls for a bike lane on one side of the road, two traffic lanes and a turn lane. The side of the road without a dedicated bike lane would also have space for on-street parking, but the traffic lane would be extra wide to accommodate cyclists and would have “sharrows” to indicate that both cyclists and cars may use the lane. The proposed project also includes a shared-use sidewalk along one side of the road to accommodate both bikes and pedestrians."

"Starost, a 16-year-old Derwood resident and student at Col. Zadok Magruder High School, worked with the Agricultural History Farm Park to establish a new hiker/mountain bike trail. Once complete, it will connect a half a mile gap in between one of the park’s Upper Rock Creek hiking trails with a bike training/obstacle course.

Del Joe T. May lost his primary to return to the Virginia House. My only reference to him was here "NoVa Delegates Barbara Comstock, Timothy Hugo and Joe May all voted against the [3 foot passing] law in committee"

Chicago bike sharing to be delayed by two weeks. Asked whether Alta bears responsibility for the setback, Klein said the company "is still meeting the letter of the contract." The move to "take a little extra time was a collaborative decision with the Divvy team," he said.

The police have arrested the Dupont Circle Groper "a man who authorities say struck fear in the Dupont Circle area by grabbing and groping female pedestrians as he rode by them on his mountain bike." He was charged Friday with four misdemeanor counts of sexual abuse. He admitted to 8 such encounters.

Specialized ran a contest as part of the Tour de France this year, and someone local won it "Congratulations to Michael P. from Washington, D.C. and the 21 Prevail helmet winners! Michael won the Tarmac grand prize and received a professional Body Geometry fit performed at CycleLife."

Patrick “Scunny” McCusker, owner of the popular Mexican restaurant Nacho Mama’s in Baltimore Canton neighborhood was killed this weekend in Ocean City when he, on a bike, was hit by a bus. "It happened about 8:40 p.m. Friday at Coastal Highway and 132nd Street.
Police say 49-year-old Patrick McCusker of Cockeysville was riding a
bicyclist [sic] and collided with a bus. McCusker died at a local hospital. The accident is under investigation." It sounds like he was riding in the bus/bike lane and was hit from behind. There have been quite a few fatal crashes on the coast this year.

Cyclist in Lapina fatality won't be charged. "The bicyclist was coming down a blind curve, so he didn't have a lot of time to react, Sternbeck said, and both the bicyclist and the victim could have delayed reaction times because of their ages." Both of which would be perfect reasons for slowing down. I'm sorry, but I would not let a car-bike fatality slide because it was an elderly driver and a blind curve, so I'm not going to agree with this either.

S. Joyce Street from Columbia Pike to Pentagon City gets " ten-foot wide shared use sidewalks on both sides" plus pedestrian-scale lighting. Which may or may not help cyclists.

...which leads to the discovery that Southgate Road between Henderson Hall and Columbia Pike is going to be closed to make room for the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery. When I bike out Columbia Pike I go uphill on Southgate Road since gravity makes me go slow and there is less traffic on that road. In the same article they note that Columbia Pike is to be realligned to take it farther from the cemetery. Maybe this could include a climbing lane?

District Council Candidate Jacque Patterson touts himself as a current or former Bicycle Advisory Committee member. I don't recognize the guy, so either he was a member prior to 2004 or he only attends the handful I've meetings I've missed.

The Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Amendment Act of 2010 shows up in the DC register.

Here's David Alpert's statement he delivered at yesterday's hearing on bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement. TBD live-blogged it. I may watch it all again to add notes (I had it playing in the background while I worked). Mendelson quote:"If someone is driving a 2,000 or 4,000 pound machine, they need to be held to a higher standard." D.C. police assistant chief Patrick Burke follows hours of testimony on how officers fail to properly assign guilt or interview cyclists and pedestrians by pointing out that in more than half of all cases pedestrians are to blame. Yes, when the standard police reaction is to blame the victim, that will be the result.

More on the Suburban Hospital expansion. "The hospital's expansion plan includes constructing a public pedestrian and bike path through the hospital property that would connect Old Georgetown Road to Grant Street"

PoP wonders about a cyclist riding with his helmet on his handlebars. My theory is always this: they're off to do something riskier than riding on the street (racing, bike polo etc...). And he also wonders about yielding to pedestrians. I do it all the time, so I don't know what he's talking about. If I didn't, I would have crashed a lot more than I have.

GOOD spotlights DC's "new" Bikestation in their Good Design Daily feature.

A call to give a cycling a human face. I like some of the ideas, even if I find them a bit naive. I think the opening, fake quote is unfortunate as is the reference to "blowing through lights without slowing down" which never actually happens, but otherwise I think the article has some good intentions. One of the comments calls for a regular "Ask a Cyclist" column, an idea which I like.

As part of a deal to close a section of Lincoln Street in Bethesda, Suburban Hospital would be expected to "maintain pedestrian and bicycle paths in that area." This is across the street from the Bethesda Trolley Trail

Two years after Montgomery College built a fence that limited bicycle and pedestrian access to a path used by nearby residents, the College Gardens Civic Association has met with school officials and plans to meet with the Rockville City Council to get the path opened.

#10 Connecting the 14th Street Bridge - Work continues on the Humpback Bridge rebuild. It was originally to be completed in February 2010, but now won't be finished until Spring 2011. Once it's completed two underpasses will allow cyclists to get to the other side in the area of the Boundary Channel. On the Virginia side Arlington is studying how to connect to the underpass. Work also began on Phase I of Long Bridge Park, but it will be a long time before a bridge connects it to the Mount Vernon Trail. Phase I is to be completed in Summer 2011. "Environmental remediation work within the park is expected to be concluded by the end of November 2010. The sub-grades for Field "A" and for the parking lot are nearly complete and the parking lot is expected to be paved by the end of October. Sanitary and water system work continues on Old Jefferson Davis Highway and is causing the road to be reduced to one travel lane at times. This work is expected to continue throughout the fall. Construction of footings and wall foundations for the esplanade, various site walls, the plinths and buildings is in progress. The galvanized steel wall adjacent to the esplanade is being erected. Footings for sports field lights are being installed."

#12 Chain Bridge - The bridge was repaved this year, but I don't know if that meant any improvement for cyclists.

2008

#3 Shepherd Branch - The spur that went to St. Elizabeths has been turned into a construction access road, but when the project is done, the plan is to make it into an access road with a parallel bike trail.

#6 Chesapeake Beach Railway Trail - Work is currently underway in Calvert County on a section of this trail. "The Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail is well under way with several piles driven and framing complete on the most western channel crossing. Paving on the land section started in September." Funding is from state TE money.

#11 Three Notch Trail - Ground was broken last summer on Phase V. It should be completed summer of 2011. Here's a slideshow of the trail. The status of the other phases at groundbreaking were:

* Phase III: This two mile section, from the Wildewood development south to the Wal-Mart shopping Center, is being constructed primarily by private developers; South Plaza, Wildewood, and Wal-Mart have completed sections along their development frontage.

* Phase IV - Phase IV-A from Wal-Mart to Chancellor’s Run Road in California is nearly complete. Phase IV-B from Chancellor’s Run Road to Pegg Road will be coordinated with the future construction of FDR Boulevard, a community roadway project.

* Phase VI - from MD Route 5 to MD Route 236 in Mechanicsville is planned for design in FY11 and construction in FY14.

* Other Phases: Phases VII, VIII and IX, from Wildewood north to Baggett Park, are planned for FY15 and beyond as future funding permits.

One lesson from the BRACtransportation plans at NNMC, Fort Belvoir and Andrews AFB is that it helps to have advocates for biking and walking engaged in the process. Around NNMC, WABA, the NIH bike club and Jack Cochrane of Montgomery Bicycle Advocates have successfully pushed the County to add in trails from the Bikeways Plan (and one that isn't). There are few items they're pushing for. In response to the "Purpose and Need" for the Medical Center underpass, WABA's official comment included

Instead of assuming, as the draft purposes and needs document appears to do, that facilitating the crossing of MD 355 at or near the Medical Center Metro station is the goal, the project should be aimed at encouraging safe and convenient access by bicyclists, pedestrians and transit users with the objective of minimizing the use of single-occupancy motor vehicles to reach destinations in the immediate vicinity of the Medical Center.

We submit that that the best way to achieve this objective would be to invest in secure bike parking and other amenities at the Metro station together with better connectivity via trails and on road routes. The most important improvements to bicycling infrastructure are the widening of the Bethesda Trolley Trail (BTT) on the western edge of the NIH campus to AASHTO standards of at least 10 feet (and relocation of the trail to achieve a safe setback from the curb), construction of bicycling facilities on Jones Bridge Road and Cedar Lane as contemplated by the relevant local master plans, and widening and improvement of the existing multiuse path on the eastern side of the NIH campus between Cedar and the southern end of the NIH property, where the path merges with the Bethesda Trolley trail as it continues south to Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda.

The most important missing element according to WABA is the widening of the BTT from Center Drive to Lincoln Avenue. From Charles Street, where the trail becomes a narrow sidewalk, to Center Drive, the trail will be rebuilt and widened as part of the intersection improvements at Cedar and Old Georgetown Road. South of Lincoln, the trail picks up again. But the 0.3 miles between the two will still be just a narrow sidewalk, right up next to the road. It is such a short distance that it seems like an easy way to close a gap.

The most recent comment period ended on Feb 5th, but there will be more opportunities for public comment during the
study. I'll try to keep people posted.

Comments on the statement are due Feb. 5 and should be sent to
kenneth.kendall@montgomerycountymd.gov or Kenneth Kendall, Montgomery
County Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation
Engineering, 100 Edison Park Drive, 4th Floor, Gaithersburg, MD 20878.

As part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, the County is working on a Multimodal Crossing Study of MD-355 (aka Rockville Pike). Originally, the purpose was to make it easier for the pedestrians leaving the Medical Center Metro to cross the Pike and access NNMC. It then had the expanded goal of also providing a better crossing for cyclists and emergency vehicles. The project has been controversial, with accusations of "secret plans" and concerns that the project that best serves Metro users is being ignored. WABA is concerned that the project will suck up a lot of money for a project that is done in cyclists' name, but that won't actually serve cyclists.

In May of 2009, the Defense Department budget proposed by President Obama included $20 million for a new entrance to the Medical Center Metro station on the east side of Rockville Pike. This would only address cyclists' needs if they were riding Metro, but they could still cross at grade at the signalized intersection (either in the crosswalk like a pedestrian or in the road like a car).

Alperson said the $20 million line item is "a huge deal" because of the
county's efforts to promote the use of mass transit and bike and
pedestrian pathways, instead of new car trips, for the roads around the
future Walter Reed facility.

Then, in September, the county proposed that the east side metro access project consist of a bicycle/pedestrian underpass (pictured). The underpass might serve cyclists who use the existing west side or planned east side path and who need to cross Rockville Pike but don't want to do it at-grade. There might not be many cyclists like that, and they may not gain much with the underpass. In fact, once the underpass is built, it appears the signalized intersection at South/Wood Drive will be removed, so that could be a net loss for cyclists.

At the same time as they issued the new proposal, the county submitted a $20 million TIGER grant for the underpass (in addition to the $20 million they already had). The project immediately became controversial as the underpass probably won't serve Metrorail users as well, will be multi-modal - allowing for cars to use it - and the designs submitted were confidential.

Some transit activists say the drawings they've seen show a zigzag
design that would take pedestrians out of their way. Ben Ross,
president of Montgomery-based Action Committee for Transit, said an
underpass would feel unsafe at night and put vehicles that use it too
close to people.

The county's plans, he said, "would turn Rockville Pike into a high-speed highway as opposed to a pedestrian boulevard."

He said his group favors building direct access to the Metro station
via new elevators on the east side of Rockville Pike, near the medical
center's entrance.

There is also concern, that the underpass will be used as part of an exit off of the Beltway, which would probably undo any benefit for cyclists. Greater Greater Washington has covered this story thoroughly.

Edgar Gonzalez, Montgomery's deputy director of transportation policy argued that the underpass would be needed to make crossing the Pike safer and

Without pedestrians trying to cross Rockville Pike, Gonzalez said,
vehicles would get more green time on traffic lights. Under current
plans, he said, the underpass would be wide enough to allow vehicles to
move between NIH and the medical center, in case patients or employees
needed to be moved from one facility to another in an emergency. It
would not be open to regular traffic.

In December, Montgomery and Fairfax Counties were assigned $300 million in federal money to help adjust to BRAC traffic and this may make the TIGER funding request moot, meaning the extra $20 million for the underpass has to come out of the $300 million or county money.

The January BRAC Implementation Committee meeting brought more news about the underpass. They continue to insist that they have not settled on the underpass, but David Alpert is less than convinced. At the meeting they listed possibilities that omitted the elevators on the east side and presented a draft Purpose and Need statement which defines a need the elevators can't possibly meet. The National Environmental Policy Act study is expected to be completed in June and will identify a
variety of options, which could include a tunnel, bridge, underpass or
an improved at-grade crossing.

As Esther Bowring of Montgomery County points out, the five designs to address pedestrian access between the Naval Medical Center and the Metro station that WMATA produced last July "excluded consideration for bicyclists and integration of the needs of the surrounding communities."

But the underpass may actually exclude consideration for transit users, as it will force transit users to walk farther so that the underpass connects to the streets on both sides of the Pike. One proposal to deal with this is to run a shuttle bus through the underpass to give transit users station to door service, but no one knows if this will actually increase transit use.

Since the elevators are being scrubbed, and the reason given is, in part, to include cyclists, it's worth asking the question, is the underpass something anyone will bike through, or would cyclists just rather see an improved at-grade crossing? The east-side elevators cost about $20 million less than the underpass. The money saved could be used to improve the at-grade crossing and add secure bike parking, channelized stairs and other bike friendly amenities to the station. It might even leave enough to improve the Bethesda Trolley Trail. These are things that WABA and MoBike would rather see. They'd like to see a Purpose and Needs that is aimed at encouraging safe and convenient access by modes besides single-occupancy motor vehicles. If the county wants to build this underpass, they shouldn't say they're doing it for cyclists, because WABA would rather see the money spent elsewhere.